For many, the time between Christmas and New Year is a time to relax and reflect on the year.
Countless resolutions are made from quitting a habit, starting a new career, learning a new skill, and probably one of the most common, getting in shape!
Those that choose a fitness resolution, are somewhat overwhelmed by the choice of activities these days. Everything from cross fit, boxercise, Zumba, dance classes, and the list goes on.
Naturally, the gym will be the destination of choice for many, and why not, it has everything you need to achieve whatever fitness goals you set.
Or does it?
Let’s begin with the obvious.
It has weights, check. Machines to work every muscle in your body, check. Classes to mix it up, check. Personal trainers to help guide me, check.
A great place to form new friendships… few and far between. A great place to learn to effectively defend myself… probably not. Somewhere that can really build my self-confidence… to a small degree perhaps. A personalised training programme with a personal trainer… at an additional cost.
Now before all gym owners start having a meltdown, the gym is a great place to start your fitness journey. It has all the things you need. However, joining a gym can often be a lonely experience.
Especially if you’re unfit, or shy. It’s unlikely you’ll find a training partner with the same goals as you, who can train to your schedule, and who you actually like.
It can happen, of course, but it’s unlikely.
There’s nothing wrong with this, many regular gym goers train alone, week in, week out.
But you need discipline. With only being accountable to yourself, it’s easy to miss a workout here and there. And once you miss one, it becomes OK to miss one here and there, and before you know it, you’ve lost your new-found gym mojo.
There are alternatives
The most important thing to mention, is that if you join a martial arts class, it doesn’t mean you’ll need to be kicked or punched. A common misconception about martial arts.
Before we tell what a typical adult’s martial class entails, let’s first discuss the adult programs we offer.
Basic Combat
Our basic combat class is a mixed class that takes place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday in Swindon, and every Tuesday in Cirencester.
This class will teach you how to punch, defend, kick, perform takedowns and a complete range of self-defence skills.
Basic Combat involves the whole body – giving it a complete workout, making you fitter quicker and feeling rewarded. A typical Basic Combat class can burn around 800 calories!
Many Basic Combat techniques can be effectively used in self-defence, and they are uncomplicated making them easier to put into practice and remembered.
Jeet Kune Do / Jun Fan Gung Gu
These classes take place every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday in Swindon.
This is the martial art that Bruce Lee created and practiced. It was based heavily on Wing Chun in the early days but has since evolved to be all-encompassing. It takes inspiration from over 20 other martial arts and combat styles to give you a complete range of self-defence skills to apply to any given situation.
You will learn to be quick on your feet and to execute kicks and punches from both sides of the body along with effective trapping and grappling techniques. You will see your reflexes improve and therefore also your confidence.
Referred to as a “style without style” the art aims to fulfil key concepts such as economy of motion, efficiency, simplicity, and directness by utilising the four ranges of combat: kicking, punching, trapping, and grappling.
The term Jeet Kune Do translates literally as “the way of the intercepting fist” meaning that an attack from an opponent would be used against himself.
Both the Basic Combat and Jeet Kune Do class includes a quick fitness-style warmup, before focusing on the particular technique for that given week. This will include punching and kicking pads and bags and other fun martial arts drills, before finishing with the self-defence move of the week.
Both classes are mixed male and female, with a complete range of abilities, from new white belts, through the experienced black belts.
Kali / Filipino Martial Arts
Our Kali class takes place every Saturday in Swindon.
Kali is a functional and effective form of self-defence. This street/jungle-oriented fighting system has been known as “dirty street fighting” due to its lack of restrictions and rules.
Our Kali curriculum teaches knife defence, close range self-defence, hand to hand combat skills, and the use of kali sticks which can be applied to many objects. This style was developed by Guro Danny Innosanto who was originally trained by the late Bruce Lee.
This class doesn’t include any fitness aspect, but is a very technical martial art. From disarming a knife attacker, using a stick to defend and attack, through to close range hand to hand combat, wrist locks and takedowns, this is a complete self defence system.
There is a little similarity to some of the Jeet Kune Do techniques, which is why many of our JKD students also train in Kali.
We’ll be opening a few spaces in each program in January!
New Year’s Resolutions
No matter what style you want to choose for 2024, the best things about joining us, as opposed to the gym, for example, are:
You’ll be training with other like-minded people, of all abilities.
You won’t feel like you stick out, as you’ll be surrounded by a great group of people. Some at the same level of you, others more experienced and completely aware of how you feel starting out. They will help and guide you through it, so you won’t ever be training alone.
You’ll also get fit!
We’ve seen firsthand how fit some of our members become. Members who have tried the gym for years with no luck. Our classes are fun, educational, and above all, a great workout for your whole body.
You’ll also learn some practical effective self-defence skills!
No matter what your size, shape, age, or experience, we can teach you how to effectively defend yourself, should you ever need to.
Finally, the combination of all of this means you’ll enjoy it. And with that, comes purposeful progress, which in turn will boost your self-confidence and have a positive impact on other areas of your life.
Many of our members still train at a gym alongside their martial arts membership as it can enhance your martial arts training when you’re physically stronger or fitter.
But if you must choose one, then it’s clear that joining a martial arts class, can have a greater and far longer impact on your life.
So, what are you waiting for, book an introduction session today.